The Dream

Harry was walking the halls of Hogwarts, except this was a very different Hogwarts then he remembered. The halls were dark and dingy and there was no sound except for the slow but ever constant dripping of some water from the window sill. It was too eerie for Harry, to quiet…something was wrong.

He continued to walk through the halls noticing that all the portraits on the walls had been violently slashed. Suddenly he heard it, it was a faint screaming that sounded like it was coming from the dungeons. Harry started to run except that his feet felt like lead and it was as if he was moving in slow motion. After what seemed like centuries he finally reached the dungeons and slowly opened the door from which the screaming was penetrating. A red headed figure was tied up and screaming. He knew instantly that it was Ginny Weasley though for some reason her face was blurred. He saw Voldemort sitting in the corner twirling his wand between his fingers.

"So we meet once again…how many times do you need to face me to realise that I will win in the end?"

Harry was at loss for words, his heart was in his throat and he could not speak.

Voldemort smirked, "So the famous Harry Potter is speechless, well that's okay since your dear little friend is unwilling to talk either, only scream. Oh well, it makes it easier to kill you."

She had abruptly stopped screaming and the silence was deafening.

Harry tried to make his way over to Ginny to free her, but again his feet felt like they were weighted down with lead and trying to move them would not be humanly possible. He started to panic, looking for a way to escape and take Ginny with him.

Voldemort seemed to read his mind, "Oh, there is no way out. The windows and doors have disappeared so there is no way for you play the hero this time. You can't win Potter."

Harry was the one screaming now, but he stopped abruptly like Ginny had done. He didn't have the energy to scream, or to even stand, he collapsed on the ground. He blinked, he was still conscious though, he looked up at Voldemort, he was laughing.

"You really think your going to pull it out don't you? Well sorry but this story doesn't have a happy ending." his laughter was bouncing off the stone walls of the dungeon, ringing in Harry's ears.

"AVADA KADAVRA!" Voldemort yelled. A burst of green light erupted from his wand and headed towards Harry with the force of a speeding Hippogriff.

Harry sat bolt upright, he was sweating and out of breath. The nightmare had been so realistic and so vivid that he was still shuddering after his abrupt awakening. The strangest thing had happened though, his scar wasn't hurting at all and he couldn't remember it burning during the nightmare. He lay back down and closed his eyes but it was a long time before he was able to fall back asleep.

***

"Can you believe that we have Potions first thing on Monday morning?" Ron complained loudly at the Gryffindor table. They had just received their class schedule and needless to say Ron was less than thrilled about his first period Potions class, "And…it's with the Slytherin's! This will be a lovely occasion."

Hermione laughed and went back to talking to the third-year Natalie McDonald, to whom Hermione had taken a particular liking to as Natalie was often head of her class and her favourite book was, Hogwarts: A History.

"What's wrong, mate?" Ron asked noticing his friend's lack of conversational skills this morning

"Nothing I just had a bad dream last night," upon the words leaving Harry's lips, Hermione and Ron swung their heads around to Harry.

"You what?"

"Check the Daily Prophet!" Ron shouted

Harry shook his head slightly while Hermione quickly scanned the cover of the wizard newspaper, "Nothing," she said breathing a sigh of relief

"I knew there wouldn't be," said Harry, "My scar didn't burn during the dream or after."

"It didn't?" Hermione said in disbelief

"No, that is the oddest part, it seemed like in my dream that I didn't even have a scar since Voldemort didn't mention it once like he normally does."

"Well tell me more about this dream maybe I can figure out what it means." Hermione said, ending her conversation with Natalie and turning her full attention towards Harry."

Harry explained all about the dream and then added, "And Ginny was in it. She was held captive by Lord Voldemort."

Ginny who had been engrossed in a conversation with her best friend, Elizabeth Paquette, when she heard her name and turned towards Harry. "What about me?"

"Oh nothing," Harry said, "I just had a bad dream and you were in it."

"Oh great!" Ginny said sarcastically, "I just love being the centre of your nightmares."

Harry tried to laugh but he was still a bit shaken up about the dream. Seeing Ginny in reality was a bit spooky after seeing her in his nightmare.

"We better head to class soon, we still need to go up and get our books and make it down to the dungeons, plus I'm sure Snape will be in a foul mood so we don't want to be late."

***

The rest of the week went slowly and without great event, classes dragged on and Harry was beginning to feel restless. It was as if there was something in him was nagging, he felt like he was crawling out of his skin. Finally, the feeling seemed to subside for at least a little bit when the Quidditch season started up again. Their first practice was held on the first weekend.

"Okay everyone. We going to start with five warm-up laps around the pitch." Harry said to the Gryffindor team. This was his first year as Quidditch captain and he wanted to make everything perfect.

The six team members clambered onto their brooms and kicked into the air. Dylan Murin, who had taken George's place as beater was the natural leader besides Harry. He quickly was in the front of the line and keeping the rest of the team at a fast yet steady pace.

Dylan's best friend, Elijah Gaunt, was right behind him. Edging Dylan to go faster. Elijah was also a beater and the two of them together were as good if not better Beaters than the Weasley twins. They too were prankster and like Fred and George they often pulled tricks on the team. Harry laughed slightly and thought to him self that being eccentric must be part of being a Beater, for someone who was quiet and introverted could never do the duty of a good Beater.

Elizabeth Paquette, was next in the line, she was Ginny's best friend and the Gryffindor Chaser. She was a natural beauty and boys often found them selves infatuated with her looks but she was unaware of it. Her grace made her a perfect chaser and she made flying look like an art rather than a sport.

Hannah McDonald was keeping her place in the middle, who was a second year and got the position of Keeper in a rather unexpected way. While in the hall a Slytherin had attempted to throw a dung bomb into the Gryffindor common room, Hannah, as small as she was somehow managed to stop it. Harry requested her to try-out and she easily beat the competition.

Harry looked at the rest of the team and noticed Landon Crain. He was a tall and lanky 5th year. He was shy and tended to blend in with the rest of the school and no one really knew who he was. That was until he made the Gryffindor Quidditch team as Chaser. His raw talent was so apparent that girls started to flock towards him. His shyness kept him at bay however and Harry admired him for that. Though quiet normally, at practice he would usually come out of his shell and proved to be quite funny.

Caitlyn Rockwood, was last in the line, what a character. At 13 she was most definitely the wild child of the bunch. Her crazy hair styles and attitude often intimidated many people and even Harry was a little hesitant to put her on the team for fear that she would prove to be irresponsible and lazy. He couldn't excuse her talent as a Chaser and had no choice to give her a position on the team. Though her and Harry sometimes had their outbreaks they dealt fairly well with each other and she was in no way lazy or irresponsible and was actually one of the most dedicated members of the team.

The team was landing after the warm-up laps and gathered around Harry.

"Welcome to another year on the Gryffindor team. For some of you this is your first year and others are veterans. I hope that you all do the best that you can do and really get out there and… do the best you can do." Harry said repeating himself and blushing, "Now Gaunt, Murin work on hitting the Bludgers with the best aim you can. Chasers, try working on a couple figuration passing. Hannah, just try and stop them for scoring. Meet back here in 45 minutes."

"Great pep talk Captain…really inspired me." Caitlyn said sarcastically, winking.

Harry opened his mouth to reply but closed it again. Caitlyn was right, he needed to get an edge. Oliver Wood, his former Quidditch Captain had been able to get the team motivated without even trying and when he thought back that he probably couldn't of motivated Hermione to study with a pep talk like that.

***

The fire was crackling in the Gryffindor Common Room and Ron and Harry were engaged in a game of chess while Hermione was studying in her normal chair.

"Do you think that the new Gryffindor team has as good chance for winning the cup?" Ron asked as he moved his bishop.

"Yeah," Harry said, "I think we have a pretty good chance. The team started out a little bit slow but I think we are really getting good. Hannah McDonald…you know, our keeper. She is getting really good. She will probably be better than Wood in due time."

Ron gave Harry a surprised look, "Better than Wood?! You've got to be joking."

"No, I'm serious. Come down to practice one night and watch."

"Okay I'll do that." Ron said, "Check mate!"

Harry groaned, "You'd think after playing you for seven years I would start to beat you."

"Yeah, you would think, wouldn't you?" Ron laughed.

Hermione lifted her face from her book. "Did you say McDonald? As in Natalie McDonald's little sister?"

"Yeah," Harry said, "Why do you ask?"

"Well it's just that Natalie hasn't been feeling well lately. I wondered if Hannah knew."

"Oh I dunno, she hasn't mentioned anything about it."

"Oh…okay than" Hermione said and continued reading.

Ron and Harry started another game of Chess while Hermione continued to read. After fifteen minutes someone emerged from the girls dormitory. It was Natalie McDonald, she was staggering down the steps as if her feet were being held down with weights. She walked weakly over to Hermione and spoke quietly, "H-Hermione?"

Hermione lifted her head and look at Natalie, "Oh! Are you okay?"

"I-I'm not s-sure." She stopped and then started again, "I don't f-feel we-well."

"Well just sit down for a little bit." Hermione said concerned. Harry and

Ron looked up at her.

"She doesn't look so good does she?" Ron whispered to Harry.

Natalie walked, wobbling, over to the chair when suddenly she collapsed in a dead faint.

Authors Note: I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, this is the beginning of where it starts to get better, more action, more suspense, more of what Harry Potter is really about. I'm sorry I haven't posted this in a few weeks but I've been terribly busy with homework and all that other fun stuff. I might post the fifth chapter tonight as well or before Friday because I have a swim competition on Friday so there will definitely be one before then. Enjoy!

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